The Leadership Line

When Skimming the Surface Sinks Your Potential

• Tammy Rogers and Scott Burgmeyer • Season 6 • Episode 16

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Thinking patterns can make or break your career trajectory, and nowhere is this more evident than in how people approach new information. Our conversation today dives into the fascinating case of "Sal," a recent graduate whose dismissive attitude toward required reading reveals deeper issues with professional thinking.

When Sal told their manager that important job documentation was "boring" and only deserved skimming, they unknowingly demonstrated one of the most career-limiting mindsets possible. We explore why the rejection of reading and learning isn't merely a personal preference but a subtle form of workplace defiance. Whether you prefer physical books with margin notes, e-readers for convenience, or audiobooks during commutes, the willingness to deeply engage with new information remains non-negotiable for professional success.

The discussion moves beyond reading preferences to examine how early workplace behaviors reveal fundamental thinking patterns. What initially appears as simple disinterest often masks arrogance and resistance to organizational norms. We challenge the notion that completing formal education means learning is finished, highlighting how even CEOs must regularly do things they don't particularly enjoy for the greater good of their organizations. The conversation provides valuable insights for both leaders evaluating new team members and professionals seeking to advance their careers through improved thinking.

Have you encountered someone who proudly proclaims "I don't read"? Or perhaps you've worked with someone who believes their prior education makes ongoing learning optional? Share your experiences with these thinking patterns and how they've impacted workplace success in your organization.

Karman:

Good morning Scott and Tammy. Good morning Karmen.

Scott:

What's going down, Karmen?

Karman:

You seem kind of sassy today, Scott.

Scott:

I'm extra sassy today.

Karman:

Extra sassy Okay.

Tammy:

What happened that made you extra sassy?

Scott:

Oh, it's just Monday. You're supposed to be extra sassy on Monday extra sassy, oh it's just Monday You're supposed to be sassy on Monday.

Tammy:

We'll look at your sass stores over the weekend and then full on on Monday morning. I was watching Ted Lasso, so over the weekend, and there's a character named.

Scott:

Sassy. So now I'm thinking of that character in Scott. Yes, and she's pretty slutty.

Tammy:

Well, I don't know if you consider the fact that she, you know, is single and sleeps with men slutty. I guess that's depends on your perspective.

Scott:

I guess we'd have to look up the definition of slut.

Karman:

Well, while we're talking about ways that we label people, last night I was on a dog walk with my neighbor, cheryl, and Cheryl was telling me about a new person in her office and we'll just call this new person Sal and Sal is a recent, recently graduated with an advanced degree.

Karman:

This is Sal's first like professional, you know adult job, big boy, big girl job, okay yeah right and Sal was given some documentation to start reading as part of their job, like the thing that they're going to need to do the tasks, the work for their work. And a couple days later Sal's boss checks in with Sal, like you know how's it going, and Sal says, oh, that was all pretty boring. I just kind of skimmed it and also, like the one class I had on this topic in graduate school, like yeah, you know, we kind of talked about that a little bit in my graduate class and so thinking about Sal made me think about your new book. Think and how there are some personality types, personas that you describe in this book, that have some of the same kind of shortcut thinking that Sal seems to be tended toward. And I wanted this morning for you to have a chance to tell us all about a couple of these personas and what happens when people think that way.

Tammy:

I love that. And, by the way, there are lots of people in the world not just Sal who, for whatever reason, don't think that they need to read, right, and so there is that piece as well, which is not a persona in the book, but it is a point that we make that. Honestly, if you want to be a good, a deep, a reasonable thinker, that reading is actually a skillset that will help you do that, and you don't even have to read business books. You can read fiction and still help your brain to function even better. And so it's always interesting to me when people come into the workforce and they think you know, woohoo, I'm done with school, I no longer have to ever read. That's actually not good for your brain, right? So I think that's interesting. That sales like, yeah, I just skimmed it because I was bored, right, I skimmed it because I wasn't interested, and of course, I don't know how long sale will be, you know, employed, when you tell your boss it wasn't interesting.

Scott:

And I know this isn't the podcast topic, but I'm curious like is Sal still employed right now? And again, we don't have full context about what was the content and how important was it. All those other things and, Tammy, I do have to disagree with you slightly. You don't have to read.

Tammy:

You could listen.

Scott:

Well, and you could choose to not do it at all. No audio books, no reading, and that is a choice, and there are consequences or outcomes with that. You will not grow, you will not fully understand, you will be susceptible to fake news or any other piece, and that is okay, that is a choice, and you then kind of have to like deal with it.

Tammy:

Scott, I mean, that is that is true to me. However, this thing where it's like I've had a lot of people tell me just in the last few weeks I don't, I don't read. You know, like read, why would? Why would you read? Okay, I think about that choice and the impact that it has on that human being. Okay, so, not even just sale in this situation. I mean, when people start with us, scott, they get what? Six, seven books, yep, and before they ever, ever, ever start with us, we send them those books and it is an expectation that those books are read so that people can have a basic understanding of how we see the world, what our culture is going to be like, how we believe leadership needs to happen, how we believe team needs to happen. I mean, there's so many pieces about that that the books are helping us help our staff on board and become a successful member of this organization. So, this thing where if we hired someone and they didn't read those books, that would be an issue.

Scott:

Oh yeah, and there's a piece where we have a responsibility to do some sort of follow-up, to check in to see have they read the book, have they understood it, are they applying it? I mean, there's levels of understanding that we have to reinforce if it is truly that important Right of understanding that we have to reinforce, if it is truly that important Right, and I think it's. I'm kind of chuckling because I'm like maybe we need to start having some default responses when someone says, well, I don't read. Maybe one of them, like do you not know how?

Tammy:

It's possible.

Scott:

To Sal's point, maybe it's boring for them and I know like this is a place, tammy, you and I differ. Like I put all of my books on an iPad and I read them. You know I read them in the Kindle app and I know you prefer a hard physical copy. Now I can tell you the rest of my family prefers a hard physical copy that they can turn, flip and, like I'm lazy, I don't want to carry carry all that shit and I do all of my fun reading on a kindle right, and so, honestly, when I travel I bring my kindle.

Tammy:

It's tiny, it small. I do everything on the Kindle, it's great, but I don't have to remember it, so it's more like mind candy it comes in and it leaves my brain right, yeah.

Tammy:

When I want to, like, read something and I want to say how does that incorporate into my life and my thinking? Right, if that's a book that like, I think there's something in there for me. I want to be able to turn pages, I want to be able to write things in the margins, I want to be able to reference stuff. I mean, if you go through books that I've done, you'll find notes all over it and it will even have clients names on it. I should have said this to John, right? I mean it's like it's completely because that's how I can retain it, just personally. So I don't think that there's a right or wrong way. I mean even audio books. It's not the way that I want to experience a book. That doesn't mean it's wrong.

Tammy:

There's some research, though that says, you know, putting new information into our brains is actually helpful for all of us and this person's sale. How do you start a job and tell your boss that was boring? I know I'm old school, I get it. I understand the generation that I was raised in and brought into the workplace. I just cannot imagine saying those words out loud. I had an old business partner and anytime anybody used the word boring, she would say well, only boring people are boring.

Scott:

Yes, I think it's interesting. You know, this whole thing about Sal saying hey, it's boring, this whole thing about Sal saying hey, it's boring If we assume that it's a job requirement, tammy, I don't know. I think you and I feel the same way If someone said, hey, this is boring. Now I probably am going to ask some questions. I'm going to work to understand. I love the fact that apparently Sal learned all of this in graduate school. I guess that means he knows how to do it and he's ready to go, and I can expect performance today.

Tammy:

You know, scott, I probably in this particular case would be very forthright and say something like huh, you found that boring. Yes, do you think it's a requirement for work? It's a requirement for work and, depending on sales, response to that question is probably going to be sales opportunity to stay in the organization. So I'm probably a little bit more short tempered than you would be in that, and so I'm glad that you're going to ask a lot of questions, you know.

Karman:

Seek to understand, I am going to oh, scott's still super pissed. He's just backing Sal into a corner so that you know Sal like withers and dies there. Nobody's nicer than the other one here. Let's just be clear.

Tammy:

Well, I will admit I probably won't back him into a corner, but I'll give him one chance. One chance and that's it I will.

Scott:

I think my first question to me is my is his first chance? Okay, yeah, which, again, I don't think is the intent of our, of our conversation here. It's more of the how are you consuming, synthesizing and using new information that you receive, and reading is one way. It could be audio books. Now, some people might do that via YouTube, via blog. I don't know that that matters so much.

Tammy:

It does. From one standpoint, if you learn how to do XYZ in college and then you come into an organization, the organization may do it in a different way and it is our job to figure out how the organization does it, why the organization does that, and it's possible that we can help the organization upgrade Okay, but the idea that you have gone and done it someplace else means that you know how this organization goes about doing it is extremely arrogant and it is, in the end, an organizational requirement that you align, and so, from my standpoint, that's. That is as much of this as as anything else. And if the organizational norm is, here's the information and read it. Unless there is some kind of cognitive issue so that that can't happen and we've decided to not make any accommodations to that, or we can make accommodations to that the fact of the matter is you need to read it. That is the organizational norm.

Tammy:

And again, it seems like it's not defiant. When somebody says it was boring, but it actually is defiant, they are defying what their boss has provided for them in order for them to be successful. And honestly, carmen, I know we're not answering your questions and maybe you'll have to ask that in another blog. With that said, however, I really struggle when someone is defiant over something that is so simple inside of an organization. There's no moral implications, there's no ethical implications. This is just a an employee preference, and sometimes employees need to understand that they have to do stuff they don't like to do. And, trust me, there's stuff as a ceo I I don't want to do and I have to do it anyway in order for it to be good for the staff, for the organization, for clients, and so this thing that I only want to do what I want to do when I want to do it.

Tammy:

Yeah it's not okay. It's not okay, and so this for me in this spot, this is a great example about how individuals, early on in their tenure with your organization, show their true colors, and we can say this is a one-off for sale, or we can say this needs to be nipped in the bud and found out if this is something that sale can adapt to and adjust, or if sale needs to leave the organization.